


It's Finally Over

by androgynousclintbarton



Series: 25 Days of Kisses 2020 [25]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, M/M, with a touch of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28311429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousclintbarton/pseuds/androgynousclintbarton
Summary: It's shortly after Kakashi has officially been named Hokage, and as he watches the villagers celebrate the end of a war he can't help but think of how lucky he is.Kiss: Top of the Head kiss.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy/Yamato | Tenzou
Series: 25 Days of Kisses 2020 [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055207
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	It's Finally Over

Celebrations still haven’t stopped. Ever since the day that they returned home from the war the festivities had continued day in and day out. Of course there was still a looming feeling of sadness. People who had lost someone had less reason to celebrate than the others, but they were still there. They still stand with everyone else, sharing memories of loved one’s lost and smiling a sad broken smile, because while they’ve lost someone they know what could have happened.

They understand that it could have been so much worse, and so they celebrate.

Watching from the top of the newly built Hokage’s residence, Kakashi smiles a soft smile. One saved only for himself as his eyes follow Sakura and Naruto running through the streets down below collecting their friends for shenanigans that he didn’t want to know anything about.

If they got into trouble, it would have to be someone else’s problem. Just for today. After all, while everyone else is celebrating he’s thinking back to the war that he had barely survived. A war that would have killed him if it hadn’t been for Obito’s intervention.

A war that he had no real desire to survive, thinking that his two most important people were dead. That he was alone in a world that seemed so desperate to make him suffer, never to see that blindingly bright smile that Gai always gave him, or the soft thoughtful eyes that Tenzo always had when he was looking at him. 

Surviving that final fight had felt like an empty victory for so long. A victory for his students more than anyone, and one he had no real desire to celebrate alongside them until…

A smile pulled at his lips when he felt two very familiar chakra signature's directly behind him. “You shouldn’t be up here,” glancing back at the pair, he rolled his eyes when he saw Tenzo helping Gai back into his wheelchair. “I thought you didn’t want anyone helping you with that.”

“I made an exception for this,” Gai assured him, that blinding smile of his cemented on his face. From where he stood Kakashi could still see the scars left behind by the eighth gate’s intense chakra burning through Gai’s skin. Angry red marks that the doctors had told them would heal a little over time, but would always be there as faint scares for the rest of Gai’s life. “You said you were going to meet us downstairs to join the celebrations.”

“I’m not that late, am i?” judging by the unimpressed look that Tenzo gives him, he is in fact late. Possibly very late. “Sorry, i guess i got caught up in my thoughts.”

“Nothing new,” Tenzo dismissed with a playful smile. “You’re always thinking too much, Lord Sixth.”

Kakashi cringed at the use of the Honorary. ‘Senpai’ was bad enough most days, but this was a bit too far. “Please, drop the ‘Lord’,” he pleaded. “Just use my name, Tenzo. It won’t kill you.”

“You’re the Hokage,” Tenzo argued. “It’s proper to refer to you as ‘Lord’. To do as you ask and ‘drop the Lord’ would be…”

His sentence trailed off, never to be completed, when Gai reached out and laid a hand down over his knee. If there was one person Kakashi could always trust to have his side in an argument it was Gai. Even if the rest of the world was against him, Gai would always have his back. 

“How about we have this conversation later,” Ok, maybe Gai wasn’t on his side this time. “Everyone is waiting for us downstairs. We shouldn’t keep them any longer than we already have.”

Wait? For them?

“What could they possibly be waiting for?” Kakashi inquired. “And who is ‘everyone’? Did you two...please tell me that you didn’t plan anything. You know i don’t like surprises.”

The proud looks on the pairs faces told him that they had, in fact, planned something and that he had little to no choice about it. Possibly because they had already told everyone what they were going to do, and it would be rude of Kakashi to leave his friends waiting.

Some days he had to wonder why he had ever fallen in love with these two. Of course as soon as he started to question his life choices on the matter, one of them would do something grossly adorable that would make him melt on the spot. 

Like Gai, who was currently rolling up to his side and looking at him with the biggest, saddest eyes he had ever seen. And the man had the audacity to say that his puppy dog eye look was too powerful.

Clearly someone had never looked into the mirror while making that face. 

“This is completely unfair,” he grumbled under his breath. “Why would you two do this to me?”

“You’re Hokage now, Rival,” Gai argued. “Given the title today in front of all of Konoha. It’s only natural for all of your friends to want to celebrate with you.”

A celebration was the last thing that he wanted after having the Hokage’s hat shoved onto him by Tsunade-sama. He was still trying to recover after she had suddenly announced her intentions to retire, and told Kakashi that he would be taking over for her.

Though, he did finally agree to it after he convinced her to hold off the ceremony to officially pass him the title until Gai was released from hospital. The thought of not having both Gai and Tenzo there with him when he took a job that he didn’t even want did not sit well with him at all.

“Just for an hour,” Tenzo offered, smiling when Kakashi turned his attention to him. “Let us celebrate for an hour, and then we can do whatever you want. Deal?”

Whatever he wanted? That did sound like a compelling offer. 

“One hour and no ‘congratulations’” He bargained. “If i have to hear one person congratulate me for getting a job i did not want, i might scream.”

There was a moment of silence while the pair looked at each other, clearly having a silent conversation with one another before finally returning their attention to Kakashi.

“We make no promises about Naruto,” He wanted to be upset about that, but he really couldn’t be. Naruto was convinced that becoming Hokage was the highest honour that could be bestowed upon someone. There was no one who could convince him not to congratulate Kakashi for the new title, even if they carefully explained to him that Kakashi didn’t actually want the job. “But for everyone else, we will inform them to avoid any sort of ‘congratulations’ and focus instead on just having a good time.”

Since there was no way he was going to get out of this little party that the pair had organized, he was going to have to take this as a win. It was better than nothing at least.

“Five more minutes,” The words left his mouth before he could stop them. A soft plea followed by a hopeful smile. “I haven’t gotten a lot of time with just the two of you. Just five minutes, no one else but us.”

He could wait till tonight to have his alone time with them, but he felt like he needed it right now. Not forever, just a few minutes.

A quick reminder that he wasn’t dreaming.

That Naruto had saved Gai from certain death. That Tenzo hadn’t died at Kabuto and Obito’s hands.

Just a quick reminder that for once in his life, he didn’t have to lose everything that he held dear. 

“There you go again,” Tenzo stepped up to Gai’s side and reached out to poke Kakashi in the nose, laughing when the Hokage glared at him. “Thinking too much, Senpai. You really need to stop that.”

“It’s hard,” he admitted, bringing a hand up to rub his nose. “Back there in the battle field… I thought…”

He doesn’t need to finish his sentence. The soft look on Gai and Tenzo’s faces tells him that they know exactly what it was he was thinking. They always knew him so well.

“We’re here, Rival,” Gai smiled up at him. It’s still weird, seeing Gai so much lower than him. Though, he’d gladly take Gai in a wheelchair and retired over never seeing him again. “We’re not going to leave you behind.”

Hearing the words said out loud makes something snap inside of Kakashi. Something that he hasn’t felt break in a long time. He’s not exactly sure when the tears start to fall, or when his knees give out. All he really knows is one second he’s looking at the loves of his life directly in front of him, and the next his head is buried in Gai’s lap and Tenzo’s hand is in his hair.

He should be celebrating, but his heart still hurts. Pain echoes deep inside long after it should have gone, screaming at him to let it out. To admit that he’s scared and hurt.

Instead, he had pushed it back. Refused to acknowledge it even when he felt like he was going to fall apart. The world needed him. His students needed him. His pain would have to wait until the world was safe once again.

And then the world was safe. Everyone woke up, Sasuke found his way back to Naruto. Tenzo and Gai had lived. Everything was ok, but the pain was still pounding deep inside of his chest, and he continued to ignore it.

What reason was there to be sad? He hadn’t lost Tenzo and Gai. His students were all alive. For once, he hadn’t lost as much as he could have. Even those he had lost had at least gotten to say goodbye to him. That was more than he could say for his father, Minato-Sensei, Kushina, Rin…

The sadness didn’t make sense, but it still sat there. Deep inside of him. A throbbing, constant pain that refused to leave him alone. It always felt worse when he sat by Gai’s beside waiting for him to wake up, or when Tenzo told him about what he had gone through while he was being kept prisoner. 

Still, he continued to ignore it. There were celebrations going on around him. He had no reason to be sad.

“It’s ok,” Tenzo’s voice breaks through the fog in his brain as Gai rests a hand on top of his head. “We’re here, Kakashi.”

The pain is still there. A deep, soft throb, but it hurts a little less. It doesn’t suffocate him anymore, even as he cries into Gai’s lap. For the first time since he had heard the news of Tenzo’s capture he didn’t feel like he was being eaten alive by his own hurt.

“We’re here, Rival,” He can feel Gai’s hands combing through his hair. A gentle touch that helps to ground him to reality. Keeping him there with Gai and Tenzo even as his emotions flood out, an unstoppable flood of hurt and tears. “We’re not going to leave you. Ever.”

“Five minutes,” from the way Tenzo says it Kakashi knows he’s being promised as much time as he needs, and he appreciates it. The silent promise of comfort and confidentiality. “We’ll sit here with you.”

Bringing a hand up, he searches and reaches out for Tenzo. Searching desperately for anything that he can hold onto until Tenzo notices and tangles their fingers together and gives his hand a squeeze.

He’s not sure who kisses him on the top of his head. It would take too much effort to turn his head so he can see what’s going on around him, but he knows the feeling in the pit of his stomach when he feels that kiss.

Warmth.

Happiness.

An actual happiness that blooms inside of him for the first time in months. For the first time since his students had defeated Kaguya together he feels like it’s really over. As if the wounds deep down inside of him can finally start to heal. 

Another kiss on the top of his head, and that warmth blooms a little more. 

He’s not alone.

He’s never going to have to be alone.

For the first time since he was five, he’s not afraid of the world crashing down around him. For the first time since his fathers death, he feels safe with the feelings of love bursting in his chest, and he can’t imagine anyone more deserving of that love than the two men standing with him right now. 


End file.
